DESCRIPTIVE
As we begin the investigation
of Drawing Machines as minor
acts
of
architecture
that
produce discursive imagery, we
also begin at the most tangible
and scientific end of the
spectrum. In alignment with the
co-requisite seminar â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Mapping:
Issues in Representationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, the
first foray into understanding
these precepts is through the
descriptive operation.

‘A harmonograph is a mechanical
apparatus
that
employs
pendulums to create a geometric
image. The drawings created
typically are Lissajous curves,
or related drawings of greater
complexity. The devices, which
began to appear in the mid19th century and peaked in
popularity in the 1890s, cannot
be
conclusively
attributed
to a single person, although
Hugh Blackburn, a professor of
mathematics at the University
of
Glasgow,
is
commonly
believed to be the official
inventor. A simple, so-called
“lateral”
harmonograph
uses
two pendulums to control the
movement of a pen relative to a
drawing surface. One pendulum
moves the pen back and forth
along one axis and the other
pendulum moves the drawing
surface back and forth along a
perpendicular axis. By varying
the frequency and phase of
the pendulums relative to one
another,
different
patterns
are created. Even a simple
harmonograph
as
described
can create ellipses, spirals,
figure
eights
and
other
Lissajous figures.’1

08

THE MAKING PROCESS:
HARMONOGRAPH

Arms & Ink

The importance of understanding
the working mechanism of the
harmonograph and the effects
of the pendulums on the product
is paramount to the success
of this project. Ensure you
have a clear understanding
of the physical properties
of pendulums to guarantee the
desired results. Additionally,
the construction of the design
is influential in the success
of the project since many
variables are introduced during
the assemblage and design-build
phase of the construction.

CARTOGRAPHY
ISSUES IN REPRESENTATION:
DESCRIPTIVE AND DIVISIVE
Using
Leonardo
da
Vinci’s
Plan of Imola of 1502 craft
a synthetic analysis of the
course
readings
completed
as
studies
in
descriptive
operations. The synthesis must
consider survey operations and
methods, mapping traditions,
representation
conventions,
and the historical context of
Leonardo’s ichnographic plan.

18

DESCRIPTIVE AND DEVISIVE
KEYWORDS
Renaissance
Cartography
Scientific System
political and societal influece
Symbolic Values
Representation Conventions
universal man
Surveying Methods
In order to talk about
descriptive
operations,
let’s
breakdown the words and find out
what they mean. “Descriptive” as
in a descriptive writing, where the
main purpose of it is “to describe
a person, place or thing” in such a
way that it can form an image with
an imaginary senses in reader’s mind
thus makes a writing more engaging
and at the same time informative.1
“Operations”
Collins
English
Dictionary defines it as “a process,
method, or series of acts, esp. of
a practical or mechanical nature.”2
In the context of Cartography,
descriptive operations are acts
of drawing or marking of maps in
a particular way following standard
conventions and traditions with
sets of rules and methods that have
been formed and debated throughout
history of maps making but with one
common goal, to describe and create
superimpose representations of our
physical reality and environment
around
us
through
a
god-like
perspective.
For
cartographers
alike, it can be quite empowering.

Cartography,
the
art,
science, and practice of drawing
maps, is more than what meets the
eye. A map can’t never be a city,
not for the obvious reason of that
a city comprises of the physical
realm and a map is a two-dimensional
“representation” of it, but a map is
of an influence(s), interests, and
personal representations that creates
by patronized group of “makers.” These
makers are essentially dictating
the results of the outcome without
consensus agreement with the people,
shifting rivers, moving landscapes
and neighbors. And these maps are
what have shaped our history and
understanding of our world today, as
Adam Gobnik writes “…comes the history
of places, where the ingathering of
people and classes in a single city
or state makes a historical whole
bigger than any one face within it.”3
Even our “Universal [Maker]” was not
prone to such influence and truly
rely on his observations, rational
and personal ambition to master his
understanding of the natural world.
That man is Leonardo da Vinci,
the
Renaissance
master
painter,
the multi-disciplinary “Universal
Man.”4 But it is important to also
place Leonardo on the ground as
a real man, a man who lived and
walked in
real physical place and
time, to critically analyze his
representations of cities. Thus, to
view Leonardo as a real man, he’s
also a product of the Renaissance,
for he who has his own ambition to
pursue knowledge and opportunities
often times let symbolic values

abandon quantitative descriptions
evident in reality as shown in Plan
of Imola of 1503 (Figure 1). The Plan
of Imola by Leonardo, although it was
created during the time of reborn
aesthetic inspired by the heaven
and new scientific knowledge of the
natural world, failed to represent
its epoch. But it provides a perfect
representation of the Renaissance’s
manipulation of natural world using
symbolic representations fitting a
narrative and agenda by expressing
power and influence. The analysis
of this claim will be supported
through the drawing’s historical
context,
mapping
traditions
and
representation conventions, and its
survey operations and methods.
The
Renaissance,
meaning
rebirth,
has
been
known
as
a
transitional
period
of
cultural
that bridges the Middle Ages to our
modern history.5 The intellectual
movement was based on humanism,
the new thinking became manifest in
art, architecture, politics, science
and literature. One of the most
significant development coming out
of this was the ability to represent
three-dimensional space onto a twodimensional surface using scientific
perspective.6 The new scientific
methods of representing the natural
world is the ambitious attitude
of intellectuals and scholars try
to achieve, to impose order to
nature and to perfect their ideal
imagery of their own physical world
they are living in. In the context
of cartography, a man that had
contribute the most in development

of Renaissance maps is Leon Battista
Alberti. In his Descriptio Urbis
Romae
he
applies
mathematical
techniques to mapmaking.7 Although
none of Alberti’s maps have survived
but his writings and reconstruction
of Plan of Rome has been widely
studied (Figure 2). The key to
Alberti’s plan is in his Ludi
Maematici, where he expresses the
manner of measuring the circuit
or circumference of a territory,
to construct a city plan base on
mathematical
basis.
Renaissance
scholars
also
studied
Ptolemy’s
Geography
and
his
cartographic
system. Both systems from Ptolemy
and the use of perspective of the
Renaissance are both acknowledgments
to a renew matrimony between man
and
the
universe.8
Leonardo
da
Vinci was possibly Alberti’s true
successor in applying mathematical
perspective to mapmaking as shown in
his ichnographic plan of Imola of
1502. Imola was a military colony
and Leonardo was under the service
of Cesare Borgia, a Roman official
under Augustus, Leonardo’s plan of
Imola was drawn to show the Roman
military might and its perfect
city. As the map clearly focus and
fixed to its Capitoline shows the
importance of the state by placing
the city center where the state’s
power located as the starting point
of the map which everything radiates
from it. The circle drawn also works
as horizon is a reference to the
imperial and mediaeval walls not
only it represents as perimeter but
as symbols of power and perfection.9

David Woodward, The History of Cartography: Cartography and the Renaissance:
Continuity and Change, Volume III (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2009), 5.
6
John A. Pinto, Origins and Development of the Ichnographic City Plan, Journal of the
Society of Architectural Historians 35, no. 1,(1976), 35.
7
Naomi Miller, Mapping the City: The Language and Culture of Cartography in the
Renaissance (New York: Continuum, 2003), 169-70.
8
Ibid., 174.
9
Ibid., 182-83.
5

20

This old convention was based on
Leonardo’s schematic plan of Milan
in 1497 (Figure 3). From both
maps it may seem like Leonardo
was
just
following
Alberti’s
mathematical measurements methods
in conjunction with the Renaissance
art of perspective, he failed in the
attempt of representing the accurate
reality but to be influenced by
the
authority.
Its
significant
and
insignificant
topographic
information were dictated by Leonardo
under his patron’s command resulting
in a symbolic representation of a
perfect Roman town plan of Imola and
placing it in the world’s recorded
history. Leonardo could create a
representation of the real world by
scientific observation but he also
could control the marks and lines on
paper that could manipulate things
in the real world. Often time we
can’t really know what was going on
in his mind.
Leonardo’s plan of Imola
was a result of mapping traditions
and conventions of Alberti and the
Renaissance
art
of
perspective.
Similar to Alberti’s reconstructed
plan of Rome (Figure 2) plan of Imola
is presented as if “viewed from an
infinite number of view-points,”
but only Leonard’s plan is an
ichnographic plan (the delineation
of streets and buildings drawn in
outline, as in the ground plan).10
Maps in the Renaissance began to
serve
vastly
as
political
and
economic tools in society.11 Despite
Leonardo’s plan being a military map,
he still utilized older traditions

10
11
12
13
14
15

and conventions of dividing into
eight segments according to the
compass-directions of the wind.12
Leonardo’s
plan
of
Imola
like
in
Alberti’s
reference
in
the
Descripto using a circumferator to
mark location using radial degrees
and circular parallels in which
recalls Ptolemy’s use of longitude
and latitude in astronomy shows the
influence of Alberti’s attempt to
create an accurate topographical
representation by scientific mean.13
However Leonardo’s plan of Imola
still follows the medieval plans and
world maps conventions and traditions
where
cities
are
represented
iconically. They are often contained
within a circle sharing the cosmos
view and the most significant place
or city will be shown in the most
iconic center of those maps.14 These
conventions can be clear seen in both
Alberti’s and Leonardo’s plans. They
both are contained within a circular
format and both locate the most
iconic feature, in the Imola Plan
is the street crossing, LBA’s Rome
is the topographical significant at
the epicenter of the plan. Ptolemy
also describes his humanistic system
by implying that “the position of
one place is no more important than
that of another...”15 Therefore,
Leonardo’s plan should have been
drawn beyond its pure geometric and
the fixed point should start base on
the accurate distance of the Imola’s
perimeter’s wall to its center.
This further shows the symbolic
abstractions that do not represent
the scientific representation of

Pinto, Origins and Development of the Ichnographic City Plan, 35.
Woodward, Cartography and the Renaissance: Continuity and Change, 11.
Miller, Mapping the City, 176.
Pinto, Origins and Development of the Ichnographic City Plan, 36.
Ibid.
Woodward,15.

the
physical
reality
attempted
by
Renaissance
cartographers.
Leonardo still followed traditions
and
representatioal
conventions
derived from the influence and power
of the Middle Ages and not to the
rebirth of scientific knowledge and
relationship between man and the
universe.
Survey
operations
and
methods of cartography during the
Renaissance took a more scientific
turn compared to preceeding period
like the iconically medieval maps,
from self-centered mappaemundi to
the Ptolemaic system of map making
onto the Renaissance maps of Alberti.
All these operations and methods
historical context and influence give
rise Leonardo’s representations of
his mapmaking. Maps are to be expected
to be accurate, truthful and contain
errors, therefore maps often be
assumed as statements of geographical
facts.16 Leonardo’s highly detailed
and colored Plan of Imola thought to
be “the most accurate and beautiful
map of its era” resulting from his
artistic
ability
and
innovation
in
surveying.17
Traditional
surveying methods and late medieval
discoveries in navigations become
the essential tools to apply to the
new way of representing cities in the
Renaissance maps. The new rational
representation of the city asks
for the development of scientific
instruments to accurately record the
abstract mathematical description
of physical world.18
Leonardo’s
invention of technical apparatus
controlled the representation by

16
17
18
19

using the magnetic meridian to be a
constant reference for surveying from
different viewpoints (Figure 4).19
The Odometers device by Leonardo led
to a very accurate plan of Imola in
terms of measuring distances (Figure
5). The most important aspects for
surveying for the plan of Imola were
to accurately measure distances and
establishing
orientations.
Then
with precise records the creation
of
representational
plan
could
manipulated and depicts based on the
purpose and control of its maker and
patrons, leaving the accuracy and
honesty to artistic and ambitious
influences of Man. Leonardo’s preexposure to radial ideal city plans
like in Rome influence his choice of
an ideal graphic format to represent
existing city Imola, where Imola
has
rather
irregular
formation.
This further shows that no matter
how surveying operations and method
had advanced in the Renaissance in
the pursuit of scientific knowledge
an individual like Leonardo, a
man, still can be influence by his
preoccupation of his environment and
place.
How can one ever be free
of influences? Or it merely is a
hypnotically question? Like a great
man of the Renaissance, Leonardo
da Vinci, “descriptively” tried to
represent his physical world on a
flat surface using traditions and
conventional operations to convey
the city and its features. Even
applied the Renaissance artistic
and
scientific
advancement
and
reasoning, Leonardo still failed to

Matthew H Edney, Imago Mundi: Theory and the History of Cartography (1996), 186-87.
Nicholl, Leonardo da Vinci: Flights of the mind, 350.
Pinto, Origins and Development of the Ichnographic City Plan, 40.
Ibid.

22

realize the imprint of his society
and bureaucracy influence had placed
upon him. Maps that have shaped both
our geographical and human history
have been products of power and
influence by a dedicated few that
audience entrusted. Because maps
are statements of facts produced by
neutral technologies, we have been
accustomed to maps; they are natural
objects.20

PINTOGRAPH
OBJECTIVE OPERATIONS:
PREMANUFACTURED CONTROL
As we continue the investigation
of Drawing Machines as minor acts
of architecture that produce
discursive imagery, we move
into realms of production that
do not have direct physical and
tangible understandings. Here,
elements
of
premanufactured
control are used as opposed to
the construction of each of the
elements in the Harmonograph
exercise.
This
transition
within
the
spectrum
of
understanding requires intense
research and experimentation in
order to produce an anticipated
outcome.

28

THE MAKING PROCESS:
PINTOGRAPH

Double Scissor Arm

Pintographs are harmonographs
that
use
electric
motors
instead of pendulums to move the
drawing instrument. Therefore,
these drawing machines are
more
engineered
in
their
construction, and yet provide
more result combinations in
their product than relying
on simple laws of gravity and
friction. Pintographs consist
of two motors, switches, a
speed controller for at least
one of the motors and some sort
of linkage system connecting
the rotating shafts of the
motors to a pen

Gearing

01

Switch

Scissor Arm
Pen

Motors

Battery Pack
30

Lines drawn by pintographs
show separation because
the two motors run at
slightly
different
speeds so the pen is
constantly being pushed
along different paths.

However,
with
pintographs the faster
motor
will
eventually
catch up to the slower
one so the figures repeat
if the machine is left to
run long enough. These
machines can be compact
and can easily create
copies
of
previous
images.
32

“MESSED UP”

36

“SHAKEN”

38

40

THIS PAGE IS INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK

THIS PAGE IS INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK

THE WRITING

FORENSIC
OBJECTIVE OPERATIONS:
INVESTIGATION OF NARRATION
A forensic record exists in
tension between a narrative
account and a presumptively
objective recounting. Ex post
facto the chronicle diagrams
an activity or event(s) within
a limited space and time. This
written response will read the
forensic map and locate the
document within the discursive
spectrum from account to recount
while considering the illegible
and
the
articulate,
the
uncertain and the predictable.

46

INVESTIGATION OF NARRATION
KEYWORDS
Nolli map
forensic map
objective operations
forensic record
pintograph
narrative account
misinterpretation
empirical data
If you are looking at the
“pintograph drawing” is it possible
to determine what tool(s) were used
to draw the image? (Figure 1). Was
it done by hand— meaning a human
physically made marks on a paper
using a pen or pencil? Alternatively,
was the drawing even produced by a
human at all? In order to answer the
questions one has to investigate,
to gather evidence, and closely
look at each and every mark on the
paper to find any abnormalities.
This process of investigation is
call an objective operation, which
is done by performing a forensic
examining facts and data in this
case the evidence consists of a
line, gabs between the lines, and
implied directionality. One who
conducts the investigation has to
have a narrative account— to find a
meaning for the drawing, a motive,
however by having a motive that
person will most likely interpret
his or her own meaning of the
drawing influencing the outcomes and
guides the investigation in certain
way. When considering the pintograph
drawing, the question of motive was

posted as: what produced the drawing?
However,
we
might
subjectively
question it as: why was the drawing
made? People always want to uncover
the story behind an unsolved case.
We will try to make connections to
other stories, other similarities,
or from our knowledge. Perhaps to
different people, the drawing could
be viewed as a scientific record, a
mathematical graph, or a computerized
visualization. A person looks at
drawing subjectively with his or her
own narrative opportunity, which can
sometimes cloud the ability to judge
the object. Looking at a forensic
record objectively cannot make sense
because there is no background
story or narrative to aid in the
completeunderstanding. The artist of
the drawing most likely had a subject
or story in mind. Therefore, in order
for us to fully interpret a drawing
we must look at it subjectively as
well. If the artist is not next to
the drawing to explain its nature
or meaning, we cannot look at the
drawing correctly, if we only use an
objective analysis of the finished
product. The artist alone is not
only vehicle to subjective analysis.
Nevertheless,
without
success, finally, one will turn
and look objectively for concrete
evidence,
the
empirical
data—
continuous curvy lines that do not
seem to repeat itself on the same
single path but somehow it looks
uniformed but not symmetrical. There
are abnormalities, either at the
start or finish (top left and bottom
right), it seems like the drawing

Elsa Lam, Narrative Structures: The Nolli Plan and the Roman
Experience,”Giambattista Nolli and Rome: Mapping the city before and after the Pianta
grande” (2013), 81-90.
1

apparatus has been dropped onto the
surface. One can assume that a human
was involved in its process as the one
who started and stopped it. Because
of its complexity and intricate
design, we can assume that a machine
created a pintograph drawing. Though
it looks like a scientific drawing
using calculations and computation,
it is really just a drawing by a
pintograph machine based on gears
and motors without any expected
outcome except an exploration of
drawing (figure 2). Therefore, it
is just drawing for a drawing sake;
there is no subjectivity behind
it. Through objective operations,
forensic record produced inherent
objectivity yet alone cannot be
substantial enough to communicate
information without any subjective
narration.
“Every map is more than a
simple documentary exercise” Lam
claims that that actually a map is a
representation based on a narrative
understanding of place.1 However, we
view mapping as a “neutral activity”
that utilized objective operations
in the premise of reproduction of
reality based on facts and data. Lam
counters that the claim is a mere
illusion. Because the creator of
the map inherits power and control
in the process of making the map,
choosing what to depict or omit,
which related to the map’s larger
context and the motives of its
creation. In the example of Nolli
plan, the figure-ground plan became
the effective analytic tool for
designers to objectively focusing on

the city’s public spaces (Figures 3
and 4). The Nolli plan of objective
is to emphasize public spaces, the
creator chose to omit information
of different sites and significant
of different buildings because the
public spaces are the narrative of
this account. It is then necessary
to exclude some data in order to
tell the story that will fit his
narrative. So if one were to use this
map as a forensic map and objectively
investigate it, he/she might find it
difficult to realize the significant
ties of the plan tothe
political
strategy of Rome, in which the
idea of Rome as a tourist city is
reflected.3
There are many obstacles
in reconstructing a map to purely
base on forensic records without
inserting some form of narrative
background. In Urban Setting of the
Pantheon by Allan Ceen, Ceen it looks
at evidence of urban planning Rome
from Roman antiquity to present day.4
First Ceen has to seeks the forensic
records of maps from the past
between “predetermined” planning or
“developmental planning” objectively
looking into developments based on
street layout instead of looking in
to developments around monuments
or civic buildings if one would
typify a Roman town.5
In reality,
the objective evidence suggests that
the city of Rome as one expects
does not exist. Based on maps of
Rome, Ceen suggests that the city’s
developmental
planning
developed
in different systems of orthogonal
overtime. Unlike the Roman custom,

“Rome as a tourist city, a view first conscientiously applied to the eighteenth
century that has persisted to present.” Elsa Lam, 86.
4
Allan Ceen, The Urban Setting of the Pantheon, “The Pantheon in Rome: Contributions
to the Conference, (Bern, November (2006), 127-138.
5
Allan Ceen, 127.
3

48

,the
plan
despite
evidence
of
perpendicularity is anything but
regular (Figure 4). Ceen stresses
the
importance
of
objectively
investigate
urban
planning
of
Rome stating that to recount the
urban setting of the Pantheon,
the reconstruction must be derived
from the street pattern of that
area, rather than its significance
of its location or proximity to
monuments. In the Pantheon urban
context, the street reveals its
urban morphology.7
Although Ceen attempted to make
objective recounts of the city of
Rome, he already made premeditated
judgments on the street layout along
the river using his expertise as an
urbanist to justify his assumption.
Ceen expresses his disbelief of the
facts presented based on his previous
observations of various maps: “It is
difficult to believe that there were
none....”8 Although forensic records
are presented, Ceen still hesitates
to accept them because it disproves
his previous judgement of the nature
of assumption. This shows that Ceen
is using his opinionated assumption,
although the knowledge extends from
his study and experience, to assert
his authority over the forensic
record thereby, influences reader’s
attitudes towards the validity of
the evidence. Thus, readers rely on
interpretation of the forensic record
solely on Ceen; the map is viewed
through Ceen’s Map and Writing, where
he questions empirical data arguing
that a drawing itself cannot become
an objective forensic record because
people are sovereign to interpret

their own meaning anyway.9 Jacobs
argue that it only makes sense to
make connections of empirical data
to make sense of the account of the
recount otherwise the drawing itself
is left to be an autonomous object
with its own sovereignty useless to
any readers except the author him/
herself.
In other instances, where
all empirical data and set of
instructions of a lost forensic record
are present, the reconstruction of
the account is more articulate. In
Leon Battista Alberti’s Delineation
of the City of Rome, records the
forensic evidence in detail, and
instructions
were
clearly
noted
that one can objectively reconstruct
Albeti’s lost map of Rome of 1450
using
step-by-step
objective
operations (Figure 5). Without its
original map as a reference, the
reconstruction of Albeti’s plan of
Rome still pertains the authenticity
of
Alberti’s
account.
Because
there are specific coordinates and
instructions on how to draw the
map, one can avoid the subjective
influence of personal bias or any.
The author also notes that the absence
of drawn illustrations eliminates
any subjective misinterpretations
of
Albeti’s
instructions.10
In
this case, the articulation of the
forensic record from the author left
the objective recounting controls
the outcome of the narrative account
However
sometimes
too
much empirical data serves less
purpose and dilutes the relevancy
in a useful context. As shown
in
Guest
Editorial:
Affective

Ibid., 127
Ibid.
“Most of these plans also show two streets paralleling the river, south of the
central area. But none of these plans, including those of Lanciani and Scagnetti,
show any streets passing through the central. It is difficult to believe that there
were none,” Allan Ceen, 130-131.
9
Christian Jacob, Maps & Writing, “In The Sovereign Map: Theoretical Approaches in
Cartography throughout History,” edited by Edward H. Dahl, translated by Tom Conley,
(Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. 2006), 189–256+, 380–82.
6
7
8

Geovisualizations by Stuart Aitken
and James Craine, geovisualizations
dismiss the static and objective
nature of geography in maps and GIS
data visualizations as often time
the program has the tendency to
overwhelm the content.11 Aitken and
Craine suggest GIS-visualized data
sometimes to be more interesting to
look at than to actually experience
the information itself. They argues
that by offering the user the
option of engaging the geography of
a particular place through ‘story
telling’ of geovisualization (moving
pictures much such in videogames
or in films), the user may lose
a conscious connection to his own
corporeality.12 And this is what
modern technologies could provide
for us, the immersive experience the
breaks the gap between our conscious
knowledge of our physical world and
the objectivity of the visualized
data.13
To be objective is to be
unbiased using facts and evidence to
present forensic information that can
be interpret by the audience. However,
one must interpret the forensic
evidence
and
recount
narrative
based on objective operations in
order to make sense of any forensic
record.
Otherwise,
the
forensic
record or a standalone drawing of
pintograph serves no purpose. They
will not extend its significance
or relevancy to larger context and
discussion. In terms of objective
operation in a drawing, each piece
provoding forensic evidence should
be independent from each other; they

should not make any connections. To
make any connections when one is
creating a story is a narration of
the investigation.

Lam, Elsa. “Narrative Structures: The Nolli Plan and the Roman Experience.”
Giambattista Nolli and Rome: Mapping the city before and after the
Pianta grande (2013): 81-90.
Metro-Roland, Michelle M, Tourists, Signs and the City: The Semiotics
of Culture in an Urban Landscape. New Directions in Tourism
Analysis. Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2011.

52

03

SUBJECTIVE

TIMELINE
PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN BY
PULNUPON SUEB-AI

THE MACHINE

SUBJECTIVE
MAPPING
SUBJECTIVE OPERATIONS:
UNPREDICTABLE & UNANTICIPATED
As we continue the investigation
of Drawing Machines as minor acts
of architecture that produce
discursive imagery, we must explore
those machines and drawings that are
unpredictable and unanticipated.
This transition within the spectrum
of understanding requires intense
research and experimentation in
order to produce an anticipated
outcome. In alignment with the corequisite seminar ‘Mapping: Issues
in Representation’, this foray
into understanding these precepts
is through the ‘subjective’ and
‘projective’ operations.

56

THE MAKING PROCESS:
THE BRAIN

Arduino

This subjective drawing machine
is an installation that maps
people’s
movement
as
they
walk through the hallway. The
machine “brain” is an Arduino,
a programmable controller using
motion sensor and motors. As
one approaches the detectable
range, the motion sensor will
send an input to the Arduino
board which then translates
that
input
into
movement
through a motor.

Sensor

PIR Motion Sensor

Arduino

Motor

Motor

01

THE MAKING PROCESS:
THE BODY
This subjective drawing machine
expressed the input through
its â&#x20AC;&#x153;body.â&#x20AC;? The body consists
of belt driven cart that has
linear motion of left and
right. Attaching to the cart
is the arm, double pendulum,
where the momentum swings it
chaotically. At the the tip of
the pendulum is a drawing tool:
a pen, chalk, grahite, or ink.

Drawing tip

Ball Bearing and Spacer

Belt Driven Cart

Double Pendulum

Double Pendulum

60

THE MARK MAKING:
A LINE THAT SHOWS PROGRESSION
Line starts at the darkest and
heaviest impression and ends
at the lightest and fading
mark. Darkness represents the
beginning of time. Lightness
represents progression through
time. Empty space represents
the absense of time.

62

01

02

06

07

03

04

05

08

09

10

64

66

68

THIS PAGE IS INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK

THIS PAGE IS INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK

THE WRITING

SUBJECTIVE
SUBJECTIVE OPEREATIONS:
SUBJECTIVITY IN REPRESENTATION
This written response will closely
read and consider subjective maps
while considering the intangible
and haptic, the inventive and
observed, the effective and the
complete.

70

SUBJECTIVITY IN REPRESENTATION
KEYWORDS
subjective mapping
effective
intangible
Leonardo
Bufalini
Plan of Rome
narrative
Today, maps are presumed for
their accuracy of the representation
or at least. Maps work as guiding
function.
Some
work
in
an
administrative function and some have
been used in military application.
However, maps always possess agendas.
They serve a specific function or
purpose, at least in the intent
of the maker. The way audiences
experience or use the map is up to
them to interpret since the map is
an autonomous object. It possesses
its own sovereignty therefore; it
dictates the information given to the
specific users. A map for a specific
audience would have specific meaning
for that particular audience group.
For others, without specialization
in the context, would be at lost;
thus they will have subjective
control of their own interpretation
of the map. Therefore, the map
becomes a subjective map to the
unfamiliar audience. ‘Subjective’
(adj.), defined by Merriam-Webster
is relating to the way a person
experiences things in his or her own
mind based on feelings or opinions
rather than facts.1 When relating
this
definition
to
cartography,
subjective mapping can include the

cartographer’s incorporation of the
resident’s subjective experiences in
navigating their city to extend its
representational quality and context
beyond its typical empirical data.
This will bring out their impressions
and their ways of perception of
their environment, which will be
apparent in a subjective map. It
will also lead to the discovery
of a key to individual’s response
emotional layer in the perception
of place. All narrative platforms,
whether in literature, films or
videos
games,
dictate
certain
subjective
experiences
for
the
audience member in correspondence
to the creator’s message. Subjective
mapping is no different because
engages maps that are altered to the
context of the viewer, and thus can
be more experimental. This writing
will explore: the intangible and
haptic, (looking at the subjective
in the narrative and the physicality
within and of the map itself), the
inventive and observed, (comparing
the divisive creativity in attempt
to convey subjective information
in
maps
and
the
records
of
perceived data and information),
and finally the effective and the
complete, (defining the success in
fulfilling the maps function and the
conclusiveness) of the subject maps
in various articles.
To say a map is ‘effective’
is
implying
that
the
map
is
successful in conveying the necessary
information necessary and producing
the intended result. Incoherently,
a ‘complete’ map does not mean it

is fulfilling a specified function
thus sometimes results in failures
to convey the useful information. In
the Leonardo Bufalini’s Orthogonal
Roma (1551) by David Friedman and
Paul Schlapobersky talks about the
relevancy of Bufalini’s map of Rome
in 1551 and its applications
(figure 1). The author questions the
purpose of the plan since city plans
were often used by the military and
they were not intended for the public.2
The
public
required
specialized
skills to be able to read the maps
that were intended for the officials.
However, Bufalini’s plan appears to
be for many diverse applications:
military,
archaeological,
and
administrative. Although his plan
seems to be complete, meaning it
has all the necessary or appropriate
parts to convey information, the map
is not effective. Its fault is in the
inventive convention of bird’s eye
perspective, since it was not based
on measurement. Therefore, it cannot
be used to rationalize the knowledge
of the city.3
Bufalini’s
representation
embodies subjectively antiquarian
vision of Rome by including the
fragments of ancient ruins and
ruins that had vanished entirely
into the plan.4 The map represents
timelessness
where
Bufalini
is
merging
the
contemporary
and
classical seamlessly. This show the
intangible quality of the narrative
the maker of the map is trying to
convey through the physical map. It
reveals Bufalini’s imaginative and
highly subjective representation of

Rome. The map becomes subjective in
a sense that the audience perceived
it differently depending on their
own interpretation and usefulness
of the map to them and because
the intention of the maker was
subjectively manipulated to fit his
own creation with imagination. Given
its completeness of the map, Bufalini
successfully produce an image of
the city– a representation of its
character and identity as well as
its form without compromising the
spatial information that one might
experience while travelling through
it.5
Sometimes
the
observed
phenomenon can be abstracted to form
inventive way of representation.
Through
abstraction
of
recorded
information, the author’s message
can be more directly presented thus
resulting in a successful outcome. In
Ancient Battles by Guido Beltramini,
the military drawings are not the
accurate record of the battles
or
formations
but
abstractions,
inventive
representation
of
the
described
(figure
2,3,4).6
In
Domenico Cora’s Battle of Pharsalus
between Caesar and Pompey much
information
has
been
subtracted
from yhr image (figure 2). Geography
and the landscape were removed
the
battle
formation
represents
directly on the drawing plane with
no topological context. It loses
the tangible data and completeness
of the observed. However, the map
becomes more effective in informing
the user of its functionality, in
this case, the formations of army.

The map also includes a narrative
or notes at the top to control the
subjectivity of its audience that
could lead to misinterpretation as
often occur in subjective maps.
By removing realistic information
of the site and representing, the
army in conventional diagrams, in
a sense, it makes the information
in the map more tangible as one
could pretend that he is playing
chess and moving pawns and knights
strategically
across
the
board.
In
a
different
representational
convention by Albrecht Durer, Siege
of a City, leaves more intangible
the
representation
(figure
4).
The print is subjectively mapping
or recording a past event but at
the same time, shows the military
formation and its movement. This is
a subjective map because it includes
a narrative that the audience could
draw from. Although Durer’s map
shows the characteristics of the
contextual landscape and locations,
the map becomes elusive in its
functionality; it becomes intangible
for military for the use in formation
of troops. However, the subjective
quality of the drawing extends its
autonomous state as an object to be
timeless and tell story and shows
overall geographical features of the
site of the battle thus memorialize
the battle.

David Woodward, The History of Cartography: Cartography and the Renaissance:
Continuity and Change, Volume III (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2009), 5.
6
John A. Pinto, Origins and Development of the Ichnographic City Plan, Journal of the
Society of Architectural Historians 35, no. 1,(1976), 35.
7
Naomi Miller, Mapping the City: The Language and Culture of Cartography in the
Renaissance (New York: Continuum, 2003), 169-70.
8
Ibid., 174.
9
Ibid., 182-83.
5

PROJECTIVE
PROJECTIVE OPERATIONS:
THE MOBILE BEHOLDER
This writing will closely read
and consider the mobile beholder
by addressing movement within the
confines of the two-dimension
map, the phenomology of threedimensional experience, and the
descriptive space that marks
thresholds
and
transitions
between these spaces.

80

SUBJECTIVITY IN REPRESENTATION
KEYWORDS
mobile beholder
physical
artifact
projective
Architectural promenade
wayfinding
effective
maginary
physical realm
movement
What is the ‘mobile beholder’?
What is the relationship between the
mobile beholder and maps or drawings?
The word ‘mobile’ (adj.) defined by
dictionary.com as capable of moving
or being moved readily.1 The beholder
is the spectator, the audience, the
viewer of the experiences. A ‘mobile
beholder’ implies that a person is
in motion and therefore is not fixed
in one position and view. A mobile
beholder could also imply to that in
not only physical state but also in
the state of being moved mentally or
imaginatively. Mobile beholders have
the most control of their information.
They have the complete sovereignty
of the use of the drawing, the way
they read it, the way they interpret
it, and the way they experience it.
It is the maker’s responsibility and
creativity to control the information
or ‘project’ the information of its
intended outcome in order to make
the map effective.
For the map to be effective
entails that the map is successful in
conveying the necessary information

and producing the intended result.
The effectiveness of the map is most
critical to the mobile beholder. Since
once the physical artifact leaves the
creator, the object or map becomes
autonomous and now it is in the hands
of the beholder. In a sense, a map
is the mobile beholder in itself in
a way that it relays information as
how its viewer views it. Therefore,
the map is the ‘mobile’ artifact. A
the words ‘mobile object’ expresses
the mobility of the object and thus
reveals the dimension of the object;
one that might be in a form of a
pocket map, an atlas that fits into
the glove compartment, or today’s
‘mobile’ devices we are relying on
for navigation and information. A
mobile spectator can change his/
her position as one pleases, but one
can also be moved mentally breaking
away from the physical realm to the
intangible, imaginary places. That is
when the physical artifact or a map
can regain control over information
and become an effective tool to relay
prescribed information and to attain
the anticipated outcome.
This writing will attempt
to define the ‘mobile beholder’ and
identify the relationships between
the observers and the artifacts
being
observed
(maps,
drawings,
buildings, and places) by addressing
movement within the confines of the
two-dimensional map, the phenomology
of three-dimensional experience, and
the descriptive space that marks
thresholds and transitions between
these spaces.

The
act
of
walking
is
something we do every day. Walking in
the city although is a quotidian act;
one might be subconsciously doing
something other than the physical
mobile act of moving through space,
that is, looking and voyeur-ing
the people, the buildings, or the
intangible things like gaps between
spaces and buildings or the chaos.
In the Practice of Everyday Life by
Michael de Certeau, sets one on a
non-linear movement like the usual
walk in the city, he lifts one to
the summit of the World Trade Center
in New York City.2 By being on top of
the city that one used to walk in,
one is no longer confined to the twodimensional figure/ground like ants
in God’s eye. Now the vertical mobile
beholder has left behind the chaos,
lost texture and missed up identity
of the mass, and become separate from
it, becoming the spectator and author
of the city. Still a phenomology of
three-dimensional experience, the
elevation ‘transfigures’ him into a
voyeur, a beholder of New York City.3
The elevation allows the beholder to
read the city with an unobstructed
eye, “looking down like a god.”4
The elevated mobile beholder has
the pleasure and lack of pressure
of not being part of the reality of
life walking and moving through the
streets. He is detached from reality
in order to be the beholder of below
and nothing more.
The mobile behold can breech
his
reality
by
being
immobile
physically but travel through their
imagination dreaming and traveling

through
spatial
memories.
Marco
Polo’s hesitation in describing the
city of Venice to Kublai Khan in
Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino
is what memory or imagination turns
back to reality; something tangible
like words.5 Marco Polo expresses:
“Memory’s images once they
are fixed in words, are erased.
Perhaps I am afraid of
losing
Venice all at once, if I speak of
it. Or perhaps, speaking of other
cities, I have
already lost it.”
Spatial memories stay ‘real,’ in
a sense, in one’s mind but once
expressed or defined, they become
something
perceivable,
tangible
and exist in the physical world
thus losing its authenticity of
memory’s images. When the words are
uttered, they left the memory and
vast fantasy of one’s consciousness
to the physical realm thus becoming
less ‘real’ to oneself. Therefore,
if the information is not truly true
to oneself, how could it be more
honest or truthful to the beholder?
Perhaps the inherited meaning of
the mobile beholder resides within
this relationship of authenticity
of the physical representation of
our subconsciousness, the ability to
move and witness the phenomenology
of
three-dimensional
experience
beyond the physical means through
our senses.
The two-dimensional map is
confined in the hands of the user
but it has ever been so mobile in the
hands of its user. Maps entail the

Michel de Certeau, The Practice of Everyday Life, pg. 92.
“… to be lifted to the summit of the World Trade Center is to be lifted out of the
city’s grasp. One body is no longer clasped by the streets that turn…”
3
Ibid, 92.
4
Ibid.
5
Italo Calvino, Invisible Cities, Translated by William Weaver. (New York: Harcourt
Brace Jovanovich, 1974) 87.
2

82

future, the new frontier, and next
destinations. They are projective
devices that give spaces imaginative
future. Though they inherit physical
characteristic,
they
transfigure
beyond
their
confined
boundary
through
the
movement
of
their
mobile beholders. Like road maps
and movement s through the express
train discussed about in James
R.
Akerman’s
Twentieth-Centuray
American Road Maps and the Making
of a National Motorized Space, where
the experience (express train), to
the beholder, became “ the world,
and the world beyond it became a
series of snapshots flashed by a
cinemagraph performance.”6 Or in
another one of James R. Akerman,
Finding Our way, where Akerman
suggests that wayfinding maps do not
just tell us where are we going, but
also tell us who we are.7 However,
wayfinding maps are nothing new
to human, the Americans maps in
particularly are essential parts
of their highly mobile lifestyle.8
Because the maps are navigating by
their automobile (figure 2). To the
extent that all other context in the
past (river crossings, landmarks, or
oral directions) seems irrelevant
and unreliable. The American maps
reveals American people’s attitudes
in their movement through space; they
see their destination and they set
out to be there and nothing should
keep them from doing that, in a way
this exposes their inherit Manifest
Destiny ideology.
“Wayfinding refers to the
act of moving along a path or through

space from one point to another
effectively and successfully,” this
definition gives out by Akerman in
Finding Our Way, will lead us on the
topic of
elements of wayfinding
in descriptive or perceptual space
that mark thresholds and transitions
between these spaces. In Towards a
Kinetic Architectural History by Ker
Houston looks at James Ackerman and
the Moving Viewer, 1942-1961, in
Ackerman argument that historically,
architects designed that everything
could be viewed and experienced from
a single fixed point is simply not
true.9 Ackerman argues the ideas of
static centrality by looking at the
architecture of Michelangelo as in
contrast to the static, stationary
plans of the past. Michelangelo’s
designs, such as doorway relief
sculptures and ornamented pathway,
encouraged movement of the visitor
through space to evoke a more
emotional response through multiple
visual experiences rather than views
those spaces directly in one fixed
position.10 This is the closest
meaning of the ‘mobile beholder,’ as
the visual experiences and emotional
response change according to the
beholder, the viewer who moves through
space that encouraged the movement
and the viewer has the control over
such action whether it’s a visual
response
or
emotional
response,
the space created is effective.
It is successful in conveying the
necessary information and producing
the intended result, the kinetic
architecture or maps as in their
nature appear to be static and

James R. Akerman, Twentieth-Century American Road Maps and the Making of a National
Motorized Space, In Cartographies of Travel and Navigation (Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, 2006). 151-206.
7
James R. Akerman, Finding Our Way, In Maps: Finding Our Place in the World, edited
by James R. Akerman and Robert W. Karrow, Jr.,(Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
2007), 19.
8
Akerman, 19.
9
Houston, Kerr. Towards a kinetic architectural history: James Ackerman and the
Moving Viewer, 1942-1961 (Southeastern College Art Conference Review 2015), 622.
10
Kerr Houston, 622.
6

confined. This kinetic architecture
device can be seen in Le Corbusier
works using entrance, doors, and
openings,
where
each
threshold
transitions you to the next as series
of experiences and provides a scene
for anticipation. Le Corbusier called
it an ‘architectural promenade.’11
Architectural
promenade
reflects
body engagement through series of
experiences within our senses and
memories essential in initiating
our pleasures and imagination that
extends beyond our physical realm.
Indeed the mobile beholder
has to move in order to experience,
but the term does not declare on
what should move in order to achieve
that, our body or mind? The real
question is which can travel the
“furthest?”

Figure 1. The view of Manhattan
from One World Observatory on the
100th floor of One World Trade
Center. (Photo: Spencer Platt,
Getty Images)

Bibliography
Akerman, James R. “Finding Our Way.” In Maps: Finding Our Place in the
World, edited by James R. Akerman and Robert W. Karrow, Jr., 19–63.
Chicago: University of Chicago
Press, 2007.
Akerman, James R. “Twentieth-Century American Road Maps and the Making of a
National Motorized Space.” In Cartographies of Travel and Navigation,
151–206. The Kenneth Nebenzahl, Jr.,Lectures in the
History of Cartography. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2006.
Calvino, Italo. Invisible Cities. Translated by William Weaver. New York:
Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1974.
De Certeau, Michel. The Practice of Everyday Life. Translated by Rendall,
Steven. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1984.
Houston, Kerr. Towards a kinetic architectural history: James
Ackerman and the Moving Viewer, 1942- 1961. Southeastern College Art
Conference Review 2015.
Samuel, Flora. Le Corbusier and the Architectural Promenade. Berlin, Basel:
Birkhäuser, 2010.

86

HEXGRID
GENERATED BY
PULNUPON SUEB-AI

THE MACHINE?

MOBILE
BEHOLDER
PROJECTIVE OPERATIONS:
‘A DRAWING THAT IS A MACHINE’
A Machine? A Map? Is it a
physical artifact?
As we conclude the investigation
of Drawing Machines as minor
acts
of
architecture
that
produce
discursive
imagery,
we culminate our exploration
with the product as a result
of a process. This farthest
swing
of
the
pendulum
to
the
opposite
side
of
the
spectrum from where we began
requires intense research and
experimentation in order to
produce
an
[un?]anticipated
outcome. In alignment with the
co-requisite seminar ‘Mapping:
Issues in Representation’, this
foray into understanding these
precepts is through the ‘mobile
beholder’
and
‘programmed’
operations.
88

THE MAKING PROCESS:
THE GENERATOR
The drawings are generated with
algorithms, geometry, pixels
and manipulation of color to
create ‘A Drawing That Is A
Machine’. The work challenges
the limitations of digital
creative processes and the
dimensionality.

Special Thanks to:
Andrew Huemann
Mike Nesbit

THATâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S
IT.
THANK
YOU
All contents and photographs not cited are produced
or photographed by the author of this book